A vehicle seat of the above type is described in DE 10351157 B3. The backrest of this vehicle seat can be folded forward onto the seat portion. An elastic adjustment means is arranged within the side wing that is used to adjust the height and contour of the side wing. The adjustment means is operated by way of operating means arranged within the side wing. The adjustment means is comprised of an elastic bow-shaped means whose lower end is attached to the support structure of the backrest and whose upper end is attached to a Bowden cable. The Bowden cable is stressed by means of a spring. The end of the spring facing away from the Bowden cable is connected to the support structure of the backrest. The lower end of the Bowden cable is guided between two deflection pulleys that are fixed to the body with the cable being attached to the body. When the backrest is in the use position, the bow-shaped element is tensioned, i.e. curved forward so that the side bulges have the contour that is desired for the use position. When the backrest is folded forward, the Bowden cable slackens due to the changed guide of the deflection pulleys with the resulting excess cable slack compensated for by the tension spring. The tension spring pulls in the excess cable length, causing the upper fastening point of the bow-shaped means to travel upward. This reduces the curve of the bow-shaped means and thus the deflection of the side bulges so that they are not in the way when the backrest is folded forward onto the seat portion, thus resulting materially in a horizontal loading surface comprised of the back of the backrest. In this known design the swivel motion required for folding the backrest forward is used to change, during the folding forward motion, the height and contour of the side wings that extrude forward when in the use position so that when the backrest is folded forward, the back of the side wings is aligned horizontally.